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As we’ve discussed, a recent court ruling on the debit card fee caps set by the Federal Reserve under the Durbin Amendment were found to be invalid. The Fed was ordered to start over. But before rewriting the debit card Interchange rules it originally issued in 2011, which would be a lengthy and disruptive process, the Fed has announced that it will appeal to a higher court.

The Fed said it would pursue an expedited appeal in order to speed up resolution but if the judge lifts his stay on the decision to invalidate the current rules it would result in having no fee caps on debit-card transactions in place. Both banks and merchants have urged the Judge for the stay to continue until the appeal process concludes and new rules can be drafted. more

On July 31st, the Federal Reserve's rule on debit card fees charged to merchants when cardholders use either a signature debit (check card) or a PIN debit card was overturned. Stating the rate caps initially set under the Durbin Amendment were too high, a U.S. District Judge ordered the Fed to lower the Interchange fees on debit cards further. In his ruling, the Judge said that the Fed was only allowed to consider the incremental cost of processing each individual transaction and not the fixed costs like equipment or other costs like fraud prevention. This leaves the Fed to recalculate the incremental cost of processing a debit transaction for the entire industry. Many experts are predicting a return to the initialing proposed 7 cents to 12 cents per transaction level.

What is being billed as the largest antitrust settlement ever at $7.25 Billion, The Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation settlement received preliminary court approval back in November 2012. All merchants in the class action suit were notified that they had until May 28th to opt out. With this deadline behind us and only about 7,000 merchants out of more than 7 million merchant class members formally opting out, final court approval is exceedingly likely.

Many of the merchants that did opt out were very large merchants like Amazon.com, 7-Eleven, CVS Pharmacy Inc., Target Corp., Macy’s Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. who opted out over concerns that the settlement gave Visa and MasterCard too much freedom to raise rates in the future. In choosing to … more

hybris, the world’s fastest-growing commerce platform provider ranked “leader” by principal global analyst firms, today announced that it has partnered with VantageB2B, Business Payment Solutions from Vantage Card Services, to enhance the commercial payment processing capabilities of its highly flexible and scalable hybris B2B Commerce solution. The partnership allows B2B organizations to take advantage of commercial payment best practices, lower their related processing expenses and make payment processing more secure.

“B2B eCommerce is being transformed by the use of commercial card … more

Upon preliminary approval of the largest antitrust settlement ever at $7.25 Billion, the end is nearing for the Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation battle now in its seventh year. But some large retailers oppose the deal claiming they are being forced to forfeit their rights to sue over the card companies’ practices in the future. Filing their concerns in a federal appeals court to challenge the preliminary approval, a decision allowing plaintiffs to begin signing up more than 7 million eligible merchants, the court decided to defer the matter until after final judgment in the case had been issued, a decision expect late in 2013. more

As expected, the federal judge has now granted preliminary approval of a $7.25 billion class-action settlement in the Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation case saying opponent’s arguments were not persuasive enough to derail the deal.

Calling opponent’s concerns voiced so far "overstated", the U.S. District Court Judge did note the bar for preliminary approval is significantly lower than for final approval, a decision not expected until next year.

Under the settlement, millions of merchants would receive payments totaling $6.05 billion. Those merchants on direct Interchange pass through pricing will also see a temporarily reduced swipe fee by an amount equal to $1.2 billion. And merchants in states that don’t prohibit by law will be … more

According to the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, beginning on January 1, 2012, Acquirers in the electronic payments industry were required to report credit card payments to the IRS.

In addition, Acquirers are also responsible for performing backup withholding on any merchants whose information (name and tax ID) does not match IRS records.

All merchants are encouraged to confirm that their merchant services provider has the most current, up to date and accurate TIN information on file. Merchants should consider submitting a copy of their W-9 form or a copy of the SS-4 form as part of the application process or upon any changes to their businesses legal structure that shows exactly how the merchant’s name is filed with the IRS therefore substantially reducing the … more

American Express’ Small Business Saturday is scheduled for Saturday, November 24, 2012. Small Business Saturday falls between Black Friday and Cyber Monday and is dedicated to driving sales to small businesses on one of the busiest holiday shopping weekends of the year.

This year, American Express is giving small merchants that accept American Express® Cards free advertising and motivating consumers to make this the biggest day of the year for small business. Be one of the first to know when you can sign up for free ads and get your marketing materials for Small Business Saturday at www.americanexpress.com/ShopSmallMerchant.

Vantage is encouraging all merchants to sign up early and to promote Small Business Saturday. If you don't accept American Express currently, simply … more

In the seven-year old Interchange lawsuit (Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation case), a proposed settlement was announced on July 13, 2102, with an October 19, 2012 deadline to formally request approval from the court. If a preliminary approval is given at that time - a notice of the settlement will be sent to about 7 million U.S. merchants who accepted Visa or MasterCard credit cards since 2004. Then the judge overseeing the case must give a final approve before it can be implemented, which is not expected until the second half of 2013.

In the meantime, opposition to the settlement has grown claiming the settlement doesn’t do enough for merchants. Some trade groups have announced plans to fight the settlement in court. Both Target and Wal-Mart … more

If the proposed settlement in the Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation case is approved, merchants will receive billions of dollars, a temporary Interchange rate reduction and the ability to surcharge card payment transactions. In return, the agreement releases Visa and MasterCard from future legal claims regarding Interchange, network rules, merchant fees and related issues by merchants.

Both the National Grocers Association and the National Association of Convenience Stores say they will oppose the agreement on the basis that the agreement does not address how Interchange is set or the complexity of Interchange fee schedules. Target and Wal-Mart are not plaintiffs in this case, but have criticized the proposed settlement for similar reasons and … more